Guide shoes for guiding movable roofs along guide rails



Oct. 24, 1961 J. WERNER 3,005,226

GUIDE SHOES FOR GUIDING MOVABLE ROOFS ALONG GUIDE RAILS Filed Oct. 28,1959 United States Patent 3,005,226 GUIDE SHOES FOR GUIDING MOVABLEROOFS ALONG GUIDE RAILS Johannes Werner, Ofienbach, Germany, assignor toH. T. Golde, G.m.b.H. & Co. KG, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Filed Oct.28, 1959, Ser. No. 849,352 Claims priority, application Germany Oct. 29,1958 6 Claims. (Cl. 16-93) This invention relates to a guide shoe forguiding a movable roof along a guide rail.

In structures known at the present time, the sliding roof of a motorvehicle is guided by guide shoes which slide in or on guide rails fixedto the vehicle. Each guide shoe includes a lining which is interposedbetween the adjacent rail and the shoe, in order to avoid direct slidingof metal on metal and to damp the sound of sliding. The lining is madeof a material, for example leather or felt, having suitable slidingproperties, and bears simultaneously on opposite sides of the guiderail. The thickness of this lining is reduced both by the load appliedto the lining material and by the wear which occurs in the course oftime. #In consequence, the roof may begin to rattle or tilt slightly.

According to the present invention, there is provided a guide shoe, forguiding a movable roof along a guide rail, comprising a first guide shoepart having two opposite side surfaces for positioning near two oppositeside surfaces of a guide rail, two parts of flexible lining materialdisposed adjacent the respective opposite side surfaces aforementionedof the first guide shoe part for sliding on the aforementioned twoopposite side surfaces of the guide rail, means connecting said portionsof lining material with said first guide shoe part, portions of one ofsaid two opposite side surfaces aforementioned of the first guide shoepart defining, together with portions of one part of lining materialfacing said one of said two opposite side surfaces, a gap therebetween,a wedging member Occupying said gap for producing a wedging actionbetween said one of said two opposite side surfaces and said one part'oflining material, and spring means mounted adjacent the driving surfaceof said wedging member for acting on said driving surface and so forcingsaid wedging member to produce the wedging action.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a guide shoe for guiding a slidingroof of a vehicle along a guide rail,

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken on the line lI-II of FIGURE 1 andshowing the guide shoe mounted on a guide rail,

FIGURE 2a is a view similar to FIGURE 2, but showing the shoe removedfrom the rail,

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on the line III-III of FIGURE 1 andshowing the guide shoe mounted on the guide nail, and

FIGURE 4 is a partial sectional view on the line I'I-II of FIGURE 1showing another embodiment with adjustable spring load.

Referring to the drawings, the guide shoe 1 includes a trough-shapedpart, for receiving the guide rail 10, composed of portions of joinedmembers 2 and 5. A piece 4 of flexible lining material having U-shapedcrosssection is mounted in the trough-shaped part with the two partsthereof providing the limbs of the U being disposed inwardly of therespective side walls of the trough-shaped part and arranged to slide onrespective 3,005,226 Patented Oct. 24, 1961 opposite sides of the rail10. The member 5 has wings 5b which are inclined slightly away from theintended position of the rail 10, to which are connected, by means ofrivets 11, corresponding wings of the piece 4. A gap is formed betweenone of the two parts of the lining providing the limbs of the U and theside wall of the trough-shaped part formed by portions of the member 5.The gap is occupied by a wedging member 3 which is arranged toco-operate with the adjacent side wall of member 5 and the adjacent partof lining material 4 so as to produce a wedging action between them. Acoil spring 6 is mounted adjacent the rear or driving surface 312 of thewedging member and is arranged to act on the driving surface and forcethe member 6 to produce the wedging action.

The member 5 is formed with slots 1a which permit the shoe to beadjustably connected to the sliding roof by means of nuts and bolts (notshown). The wedging member is basically of triangular cross-section andthe co-operating side wall of the trough-shaped part is inclinedinwardly from the base wall of the trough-shaped part. Thejust-mentioned side wall is provided with a central slot 5a throughwhich projects a nose 3a formed on the member 3. The face 31; of thenose furthest from the mouth of the trough-shaped part forms the drivingsurface for one end of the coil spring 6 which at its other end bearsagainst an upwardly-projecting tongue 8 of the member 5. The tongue 8faces the driving surface 3b of the member 3. A pin 7 extends oo-axiallythrough the spring 6 and, at one end, is fixed rigidly to the surface 3bof the member 3 and, near the other end, passes a bore in the tongue 8.The free end of the pin 7 has a head 7a, and the force exerted by thespring 6 can be adjusted in any desired manner, for example by fittingonto the pin 7, at locations between the spring and the tongue 8, one ormore U-shaped or split spacer rings 11 (as shown in FIG. 4).

When the thickness of the lining 4 is reduced during use, the wedgingmember 3, due to the force exerted by the spring 6 in the direction ofthe arrow P (see FIG- URE 3), is caused to move. [Due to the slopingform of the adjacent side wall of the trough-shaped part, such movementcauses the surface of the member 3 that contacts the lining 4 to beshifted in the direction of the arrow S. As a result, the lining 4 isalways pressed tightly against the rail 10 so that the shoe will slidecorrectly along the guide rail 10.

The slope angle of the wedge 3 is kept so small that, in the event of alarge force acting on the surface of the member 3 contacting the lining4, it is impossible for the member to move in a manner to compress thespring, i.e. the wedge is self-locking. The angle selected for the wedgeis thus smaller than the angle of friction between the wedge 3 and theadjacent side wall of the trough-shaped part.

The use of the wedge 3 permits a guide shoe to be of a low overallheight as is necessary under the cramped conditions found insliding-roof guide systems, the nose 3a and the tongue 8 being thehighest points.

I claim:

1. A guide shoe for a movable roof for guiding it along a guide rail,comprising a guide-shoe member having portions defining engagingsurfaces positioned near the opposite sides of the guide rail, asubstantially U- shaped compressible lining material adjacent said sidesof the rail for sliding engagement therealong, means connecting saidlining material with said guide-shoe member, a wedging member interposedbetween one of said portions of the guide-shoe member and one of thelimbs of said U-shaped lining material, said wedging member beingadadpted to be reciprocated ina direction substantially at right anglesto the guide rail so as to urge said limb of the lining material againstthe guide rail for frictional engagement therewith.

2. A guide shoe according to claim 1 wherein the wedging angle of saidwedging member is less than the angle of friction between one of saidengaging surfaces and the contacting surface of said wedging member.

3. A guide shoe according to claim 1 wherein said guide-shoe membercomprises an upstanding tongue and said wedging member comprises a guideelement reciprocable in said tongue, further comprising means foradjusting the free displacement of said guide element towards and fromthe guide rail.

4. A guide shoe according to claim 3, further comprising biasing meansinterconnecting said tongue and said wedging member along said guideelement, for securing said wedging member and said lining material inthe frictionally engaged position with the guide rail.

5; A'guide shoe according to claim 4 wherein said tion of said guideshoe member defines a slot therein, a

portion of said wedging member defines a nose narrowing towards theguide rail and protruding through said slot, whereby said wedging memberis positively guided in a direction perpendicular to that of the guiderail.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS518,494 Evans Apr. l7, 1894 1,500,130 Heringer July 8, 1924 2,521,836Deal Sept. 12, 1950 2,602,693 Murphy July 8, 1952

